ARTICLES ABOUT LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL BY DATE - PAGE 2

LUCKNOW: In a loss of face to BJP, its extra candidate in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections today lost while ruling SP and opposition BSP won an additional seat each with support from Congress and other parties. Polling was held for 12 seats and SP won eight, BSP three and BJP one, Principal Secretary, Legislative Council, Pradeep Dubey said. The elected SP candidates were Ahmad Hasan, Ramesh Yadav, Ramjatan Rajbhar, Sahab Singh Saini, Ashok Bajpai, Virendra Singh Gurjar, Sarojini Agarwal and Ashu Malik.

LUCKNOW: Polling is underway for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council biennial polls for 12 seats even as horse trading appears inevitable with key parties fielding extra candidates expecting cross voting by MLAs. "Polling started this morning at 9 AM and will continue till evening," Principal Secretary Vidhan Sabha Pradeep Dubey said. The state Assembly has 403 members and first preference votes of 31 MLAs would be needed to ensure victory of one candidate for the Upper House . The decision by ruling Samajwadi Party , BJP and BSP to field an extra candidate each has put pressure on all parties, not only to ensure victory of their nominees, but also to keep their flock of MLAs intact.

KANPUR: BJP-backed Arun Pathak has won the Legislative Council bypoll to Kanpur division graduates' constituency, making a breakthrough into the Congress bastion. The results of the January 19 polls were declared today and Pathak defeated his nearest rival Congress-backed Manvendra Swaroop by a margin of 1,816 votes, a statement issued by Kanpur Divisional Commissioner and Election Officer Mohammed Iftikaruddin said. Pathak polled 25,133 votes while Swaroop polled 23,317 votes in the polls, the statement said.

LUCKNOW: With barely two days left for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections , BJP is making all out efforts to garner support of smaller parties and Independent MLAs to ensure victory in two of the 12 seats going to polls on January 23. BJP with 41 MLAs can ensure victory of only one candidate, leaving a surplus of 10 votes. However, banking on support of Independents and smallar parties, it has fielded two nominees -- Lakshman Acharya and Dayashankar Singh. "We are relying on conscience votes to meet the shortage," BJP leader and spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak told PTI today.

KANPUR: Around 8.6 per cent voting was recorded till noon today for the legislative council by-election to Kanpur division graduates' constituency, a senior official said. The voting for the elections where 13 candidates are in fray began at 8 AM and there were no untoward incident reported so far, Additional District Magistrate, Kanpur Shtragunha Singh said. Out of the 252 polling centres for the polls, 181 are in Kanpur, 18 in Kanpur Dehat and the remaining in Unnao district.

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh BJP today announced formation of a four-member committee to oversee the legislative council polls and ensure victory of party candidates in the January 23 biennial election. "A four-member committee having BJP legislative party leader Suresh Kumar Khanna , Hriday Narain Dixit , Dharmpal Singh and Ramapati Shastri has been formed to oversee the Legislative Council polls," party spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said. "Like other parties, we are also banking on extra votes and analysing the situation", Pathak told PTI. While senior party leader Satish Mahan has been designated poll-agent for candidate Lakshman Achayra, legislator Suresh Rana will be Dayashankar Singh's polling agent, he added.

LUCKNOW: The biennial elections for 12 Legislative Council seats in Uttar Pradesh is likely to become interesting after BJP fielded two candidate on the last of nominations today, leaving 13 candidates in the fray for the January 23 polls. Lakshman Acharya and Dayashankar Singh of BJP have filed their nominations for the polls. The final picture, however, will emerge on January 16, on the last date of withdrawal of names. With the state Assembly having 403 members, first preference votes of 31 MLAs would be needed to ensure victory of one candidate for the Upper House.

LUCKNOW: All eight Samajwadi party candidates today filed their nominations for the UP legislative council election here in which the ruling party is likely to have a smooth sailing. SP candidates —health minister Ahmad Hasan , Ramesh Yadav , Ramjatan Rajbhar , Sahab Singh Saini, Ashok Bajpai, Virendra Singh Gurjar, Sarojini Agarwal and Ashu Malik -- filed their nominations in the presence of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav , PWD minister Shivpal Yadav and other senior leaders at Vidhan Sabha Central Hall . As the state assembly has 403 members, first preference votes of 31 MLAs would be needed to ensure victory of a candidate to the upper house in January 23 election to 12 seats.

LUCKNOW: In a quid pro quo, Congress has decided not to field its candidate in biennial Legislative Council election of Uttar Pradesh. The Congress' gesture is its 'return gift' to Samajwadi Party for supporting its two candidates - Pramod Tiwari and P L Punia - in getting elected to Rajya Sabha. "The party has decided not to field its candidate in Council election," chairman of UP Congress Committee communications department Satyadev Tripathi told PTI here today.

NEW DELHI: The BJP today nominated Laxman Acharya as its candidate for the biennial elections to the Legislative Council of Uttar Pradesh. "The BJP Central Election Committee has cleared the name of Laxman Acharya for the biennial elections to the Legislative Council of Uttar Pradesh," BJP General Secretary J P Nadda said in a statement. Election for 12 seats of Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad will be held on January 23. Of the 12 retiring members whose term will come to an end on January 30, seven are from BSP, three from Samajwadi Party and two from BJP.